Short-term effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor on retinal vessel diameter in patients with systemic hypertension.

Purpose: To determine the retinal vessel diameter changes after angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor treatment in a group of hypertensive patients.

Methods: This study included 60 treatment-naive hypertensive patients who were treated with ACE inhibitor. Sixty healthy volunteers served as control group. An optical coherence tomography scan protocol including the measurement of peripapillary retinal vessel diameters was performed at baseline and at 1st month. The diameters of superior temporal artery (STA), inferior temporal artery (ITA), superior temporal vein (STV), inferior temporal vein (ITV), superior nasal artery (SNA), inferior nasal artery (INA), superior nasal vein (SNV) and inferior nasal vein (INV) were statistically compared.

Results: The baseline diameters of the STA, ITA, SNA, and INA were significantly decreased in the patient group compared with the control group (all  < 0.05). There was a significant increase at 1st month after the treatment in comparison to baseline measurements (all  < 0.05). When compared with the controls, only the diameter of SNV showed a significant decrease at baseline ( = 0.031). After the treatment, the diameters of SNV and INV were significantly increased compared with baseline measurements ( = 0.049 and  = 0.035, respectively). There were no significant differences between the control group and the patient group at 1st month (all  > 0.05).

Conclusion: Short-term treatment with ACE inhibitor led to a significant improvement in the retinal vessel diameters of patients with hypertension.